Color image capture devices, which also may be referred to as RGB (Red, Green, Blue) cameras, may be used in a variety of different environments. For example, an RGB camera may be used with an interactive entertainment system to allow players to communicate with other players, and/or for machine vision and object recognition.
Wide-angle RGB cameras may utilize various lens constructions, including retro-focus and/or fish-eye types, to capture a wide field of view. However, with these constructions, as field angles increase, distortion increases. As such, with field angles of greater than 90 degrees, very large distortions may result. Further, such large angles may greatly increase the difficulty of eliminating lateral secondary color. These factors may degrade performance in many applications, including but not limited to color imaging, machine vision and object recognition.
The use of a greater number of lens elements, sometimes made of expensive glass materials, may in some situations help to compensate for such distortion. However, increasing the number of lens elements to correct for such aberrations may increase the cost of a lens system. As a result, costs may be quite high for wide angle lenses with a good modulation transfer function, low distortion, and low f-number.